After getting on the ship after our final amazing port of
Morocco, we had 6 days until the voyage ended. Finals were then, and I had a
presentation in every single one of my four classes (if you know me, you know I
hate public speaking) but I got through it pretty well. I guess talking about
subjects that were interesting to me and about the world really helped!
The alumni ball was on April 26th and everyone
got all dressed up. I didn’t find a dress and didn’t really have a fancy dress
I brought, so Aishwarya let me borrow a pretty dark blue sparkly dress. We got
ready really early because we made reservations for the late dinner, so
Aishwarya and I went around the ship and had a photo shoot.
Finally it was time for dinner and we sat down with our
friend group at our reserved table. Yup, it was that fancy. We all got a glass
of champagne to drink then they served us a few courses. For the main course,
we could choose between a few different things and I chose salmon which was delicious.
After dinner, the alumni ball started. It was in the student
union and people were already dancing when I walked in. My dinner group walked
in and did a loop for probably a minute, then decided to leave. But I usually
love dances so I decided to stay. I walked deeper into the dancing crowd and saw
Shannon who I started dancing crazy with. A lot of fun people were there and I
ended up having so much fun! They played really odd music at first though, but
that didn’t stop us all from dancing. I stayed until the very end and had found
my other roommate, Yesenia, by then. We even brought the dance party to a
classroom when we got kicked out of the union.
So after the alumni ball, Yesenia and I were hanging around
the snack bar and it hit me that there were only a couple days left of Semester
at Sea. So I decided that we should have a photo shoot around the ship doing
the randomest stuff so we could remember the ship. We ran around and took
photos of anything and everything and I was just cracking up and having so much
fun.
The rest of the days involved lots of packing, cleaning,
taking pictures (like with my favorite dining room server Alfonso), and just
trying to enjoy the ship since we were the LAST Semester at Sea voyage on the
MV Explorer. The current fall 2015 voyage is on a different ship now called The
World Odyssey I believe.
The final day, April 29, 2015, everyone sat around in the
hallway, around the snack bar, and anywhere that had a lot of people.
I was with Heather, Oswaldo, and Arien and recorded a video of us singing the
Lion King song we did in our acapella group, High C’s. I made a ship tour video
and just documented as much as I could. When it was finally time to get off and
my sea, the Adriatic Sea, got called, I got in a long line. As I slowly got
closer and closer to the front, the tears started flowing more and more among
everyone. I got the whole thing on video with my last descent down those tall
stairs and into our debarkation port of Southampton, England. I had mixed
emotions: sad for the voyage to be over, excited to be in England, happy I
still had 3 more weeks to travel around, and confused because it felt like just
the other day I was starting Semester at Sea.
The stairs ended and I finally put my feet on solid ground.
Semester at Sea was officially over but a new adventure was about to begin…
FINAL THOUGHTS:
If Semester at Sea sparks any interest at all in you, MAKE IT
HAPPEN. Yes, it is expensive, but I was determined and got thousands of dollars
in scholarships, even more money from family and friends, and saved up some of
my own money as well. It was a once in a lifetime experience and I’ve never
learned so much and it caused the greatest growth in me as a person. I’m at a
loss of words trying to describe how much Semester at Sea means to me. Right
now, December 11, 2015, about 7 months after Semester at Sea ended, I still
think about it every single day. It comes up in so many of my conversations and
is such a great conversation starter as well. Not only will it mean so much to
you, but it looks good to employers. I got both an internship and an assistant
job the semester following Semester at Sea, and we definitely talked about SAS
for a while which made me stand out. If the only thing holding you back is
money, just go for it. Take out the loans, start the fundraiser, work your ass
off…because the experience you will get is like none other.
Semester at Sea changed my life. I’ve become a global
citizen and have learned to love, appreciate, and understand other cultures.
And this experience has ignited a fire in me that can only be temporarily subdued
with travel.
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